Spies, Scandals, and State Secrets: An Intriguing Trip to Washington, D.C.

John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev engage in an intense stare-down against a dramatically lit red backdrop. You pore through actual KGB and CIA psychological profiles of the American and Russian leaders while simultaneously pursuing your own fictional undercover mission. The dark days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis—brimming with nuclear brinkmanship and backroom diplomacy—come to life at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Touring this interactive, 140,000-square-foot museum is one of many exciting ways to explore the history of cutthroat politics and espionage warfare in the U.S. capital. Especially in an election year, a deep dive into the shadows surrounding the White House and Capitol offers a timely diversion.

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

The International Spy Museum investigates the arts of surveillance and seduction from every angle. Discover how Mata Hari created the femme fatale spy archetype before her 1917 execution, inspiring film portrayals by Greta Garbo and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Learn how the infamous Stasi—the East German secret police—invented a bra camera (codename: “Meadow”) to help female agents monitor suspects while wearing summer dresses.

You can view U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers’s suitcase, containing a chess manual and Russian phrasebook, from his imprisonment (1960-62) after getting shot down over the Soviet Union. Another display reveals how the British army set up the Four Square Laundry in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1972 to track Irish Republican Army (IRA) members by analyzing explosives residue on garments.

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

 

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

If your favourite thrillers feature high-speed chases, don’t miss the museum’s Bond in Motion exhibition (through April 2025). It showcases 17 vehicles from the James Bond movies. Every 007 era from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig is represented. Highlights range from the 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 driven by Tracy Bond (Diana Rigg) in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to the mini-submarine piloted by villain Ernst Blofeld (Charles Gray) in Diamonds Are Forever.

The capacious gift shop offers “Deny Everything” T-shirts, “All Is Not What It Seems” mugs, and books like Clint Emerson’s 100 Deadly Skills. For more cloak-and-dagger literature, head to the nearby Politics and Prose bookstore at The Wharf by the Potomac River. Its shelves include acclaimed children’s titles like Adam Gidwitz’s Max in the House of Spies.

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Steps away, enjoy a scandalous-sounding bite at Lucky Buns, launched in 2017. The Dirty Bird crispy fried chicken sandwich with shark sriracha hot sauce goes perfectly with Cajun-spiced thick-cut fries. The eccentric decor includes artwork with a cat dressed like a 1970s tennis player and a woman getting dipped in mac and cheese.

For more upscale dining and drinking among political insiders, options abound. Across from the White House, Old Ebbitt Grill—Washington’s oldest restaurant, founded in 1856—dishes up mouthwatering crab cakes and filet mignon amid murals depicting D.C. history.

The Palm epitomizes old-school East Coast clubbiness. Caricatures of well-known Washingtonians from news anchor Chris Wallace to longtime senator Daniel Inouye adorn the swanky steakhouse. Try the shrimp-laden Gigi Salad and an eye-catching Gilded Grasshopper cocktail (Belvedere vodka, crème de cacao, green crème de menthe, whipped cream).

Off the Record by Lucas Aykroyd

 

Keep the connections-over-cocktails vibe flowing at Off the Record, the Hay-Adams Hotel’s plush basement lounge. The Fireside Chat Old Fashioned (Uncle Nearest whiskey, salted caramel syrup, orange and augustine bitters, charred marshmallow) commemorates Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio addresses. Cheeky political cartoons spice up the coasters and walls, including a Supreme Court-themed booth with all nine current justices portrayed. And if you think you’ve spotted, say, the Speaker of the House here, you’re probably right. (But keep it on the down-low.)

Looking to burn calories and burnish your espionage credentials? Take Spyher’s Embassy Row Spy Tour. Starting at Dupont Circle, an ex-CIA officer leads a 90-minute walking tour, recounting dark narratives related to the statue of Czechoslovakian president Tomáš Masaryk and the spot where a 1976 car bomb killed Chilean politician Orlando Letelier. You also get hands-on spying experience with chalk marks and dead drops.

Courtesy of the Mayflower

Courtesy of the Mayflower

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Courtesy of the Mayflower

To rest your politics-weary bones, the historic Mayflower Hotel is just the ticket. This 1924-built Beaux-Arts-style property near the National Mall has hosted presidential inaugurals since Calvin Coolidge. From Winston Churchill and Sophia Loren to Monica Lewinsky and Eliot Spitzer, the Mayflower has truly seen it all guests-wise. The spectacular Grand Ballroom and marble-lined Promenade are attractions in themselves. Check out the gaudy golden eagle from Gerald Ford’s presidential yacht at the nonpartisan White House Historical Association’s on-site store. Notorious FBI director J. Edgar Hoover ate chicken soup daily at the Mayflower, and today you can devour tuna poke nachos at Edgar Bar & Kitchen, the in-house restaurant.

This city’s memorialization of political conflicts is beyond diverse.

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

The National Museum of American History displays Thomas Nast’s original 19th-century cartoons of the Democratic donkey and Republican elephant, plus a dartboard with Lyndon B. Johnson’s face from the contentious Vietnam War era. Meanwhile, at the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Bisa Butler’s 2021 rainbow-hued textile portrait of Harriet Tubman celebrates the Underground Railroad heroine and Union spy. You get the picture.

For spies, scandals, and state secrets, Washington, D.C., is in a class of its own. The sheer volume feels as endless as a U.S. election campaign—but in a good way.